Re: beauty, meaning, and other things out of fashion...

[jdrukman%dlsun87@us.oracle.com (Jon Drukman)]

Wade writes:

>Well, I guess we all have our opinions on "the good old days" of
>music.  Personally, I think it all started to go downhill with the
>album that has had the largest negative impact in popular music
>history: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Heart's Club Band.  After all, that was
>the album which, it seems to me started the trend towards
>substituting tape effects and cutting and pasting for the ability to
>perform musically.  I mean without Sgt. Peppers would we have had to
>deal with the likes of Yes, Pink Floyd, ELP, Genesis, and all that
>art rock stuff?

the point of Sgt Peppers was to create an atmosphere, a sense of time
and place, within the context of pop songs.  the point of Yes and
Genesis (as far as I can tell) was to show off technical virtuosity.
Pink Floyd was sort of halfway between the two.  so already your last
sentence makes no sense.  the point is, without Sgt Peppers, would we
have Kate?  a lot of "the dreaming" seems to me to be an attempt to
create that sense of time and place... each song is a little
mini-environment where the sounds and ideas all contribute to the
3-dimensionality of the listening experience.

>I hasten to add that though Kate uses a lot of Sgt. Pepper-like ideas
>(especially on "The Dreaming" I don't include her in my list of negative
>impacts.  I love Kate's stuff, obviously, and think of her as the exception
>to the rule.  No matter how much "production" Kate does I think she always
>retains a certain authenticity that the afore-mentioned lack.

well, i think you've set up a strawman just so you can knock it down,
but what do i know...

besides, if Sgt Peppers (which you despise) can influence one person
to make The Dreaming (which you like), how can it be bad at all?

>Well, me too, but I must confess I'm pining for the early sixties and
>not for the 70's...

eew.  people actually "played instruments" and "sang" with "emotion"
then.  i pray we never return to those unenlightened times.

-- 
Jon Drukman                                         jdrukman%dlsun87@oracle.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This calls for a very special blend of psychology and extreme violence.